Our July so far! (including a July 4th recap)

July is usually a pretty great month for us. We're not exactly fans of hot weather, but we were lucky enough to have some mild days at the beginning of the month. We got out and did some summery stuff, celebrated the 4th with my family, and got a lot of work done. Aaron loves setting up the saw on the sunny deck and cutting out as many plaques as possible in anticipation of the sweltering days ahead. And it isn't so bad that the latter part of the month is crazy hot, since we have all of the detail work to finish in the studio. And as far as our orders go it feels a little different this year. We usually are working on lots and lots of whatever the most popular piece of the moment is. But this year there doesn't seem to be an overall favorite. Our worktable constantly looks like the pic above. And even though there are some advantages to repetition, like never having to change color palettes, we're very happy to have the variety we've been having lately.

Another great thing about July is that on 4th of July weekend we adopted our dearly missed Jack, and a few years later, also on the weekend of the 4th, we brought home Lieutenant Dan! It's our two year anniversary with this little guy! And we're constantly reminded of that fact by our Facebook Memories. Apparently we posted a pic of Dan every single day for two weeks straight in July 2014. 

This is how Lt. Dan spends the majority of his day. I mean, he does like to go out on the deck and lay directly in the hot sun a couple times a day. And he looks amazing when he does it! Aaron says he looks like a "village dog". Like he's lying in the heat on some rural dirt road town in Central America.

 But after a few minutes in the heat he wants to come back inside and go back to being a crank-the-AC-and-swaddle-me-in-blankets kind of guy. 

You know, I had already loaded this pic onto the blog and then realized that I'm posting this on National Ice Cream Day. But it's sorta National Ice Cream Day every day over here. This is the latest addition to my vintage ice cream carton collection. I looked up Moore's Ice Cream, and they still exist in Marlette, Michigan, just like it says on the box. And the place looks like it hasn't changed in many years. I love that!

 As you can see in the background of this pic, my shelf is overflowing. I've got cartons displayed all around the kitchen, but I'm on the hunt for another perfect display shelf or case that I can quickly fill to capacity.

I feel like I can rave about our Fave Craves mugs without feeling self conscious. Mainly because they're pretty much the one thing in our shop that we don't make from scratch. I'm just super happy with how great our paintings reproduced, and the quality of the mugs overall. We use ours every day and every time they come out of the dishwasher they looks absolutely brand new. Again, I'm not saying any of this in an "advertise-y" way. I just really love these things! 

If you follow me on Instagram, @jennyeveryday, or on Facebook, you might have seen that we're doing Friday Specials every Friday for the rest of the summer. The mugs were our first Friday Special item, and I'm thrilled to say that we had to quickly order more to restock the shop! 

We've got a growing list of things that we simply MUST PAINT. Salt Water Taffy and Hard Candy have both been on the list forever. Initially we actually had a couple of other ideas for exactly how we wanted to paint them. But then all of the sudden we thought of these candy jar designs, and that was it! 

The real trick was finding time to paint them. Well that's our main challenge every single time we do a new painting, but with these we happened to be extra busy at the time, and they're also the types of paintings that require a lot of focus...all those individual candies, all piled up in a realistic looking way, and then making them appear like they're behind glass. 

If it sounds like I'm complaining, I'm totally not. Figuring out the little details is pretty much what every artist lives to do. It really isn't the achievement of a finished painting, or the positive public response of a painting that the artist is working toward. It's more about having an idea, and then throwing down your own personal artistic gauntlet, and then winning the little creative battles with yourself along the way. 

Well, needless to say...candy paintings have been a long time in the making. Besides salt water taffy being our signature little extra goodie in the packages we ship out...vintage salt water taffy boxes, and holiday hard candy tins are some of our favorite collectibles. And if you saw our previous post, you might have read about how much I die for anything having to do with old time candy making! 

Jeez! I'm telling you, I really tried to blog about 4th of July last week, or more like a week and a half ago at this point. I figured Tuesday the 5th I could post, or Wednesday at the latest. But boy oh boy, there was a whole lotta work waiting for us after the three day weekend. And for once we actually kept those three days completely work-free. Well, we did some work around the house, but that's different.

As far as holidays go, 4th of July is always super laid back. There's no pressure to find the right gifts, the food is fairly easy, and I don't know...I guess it's a day that really works for my family. My family can get pretty loud, and being that there are big explosions in the sky all night, it's the one time that we don't seem like the loudest bunch in the neighborhood. ha!

We actually had our 4th of July on the 3rd. The Fam was gathering at my brother Richard's house, and since he had to be at work super early on the 5th, it was way better for everyone if we moved the party up a day.

Here's Aaron with our niece who happens to hold the world record for quantity of cupcake frosting ingested in a 15 minute period. Well, even if she doesn't hold the actual record, I bet she's close.

But she's also pretty good with sharing. I think right here she was actually trying to share with uncle Aaron's beard.

Any of you guys play Cornhole? Here's my dad most likely showing off for the camera. You know...throwing the bean bag with a bit more gusto than necessary. And jeez Louise, do you see the miniature person peeking out from behind his leg?! She manages to be involved in everything going on all at once. It's kinda impressive.

That's my sis' Missy, and future sis' in-law Val.

Seriously, by the time I really starting taking pics of everyone it was very late, and very dark in the backyard. So pretty much every shot is of our bright faces against a completely black background. 

And oh boy...I just remembered that there were some motion capture attempts that were a disaster and completely hilarious. And you'd see them here if hadn't already deleted them. It was three family members, each holding a sparkler, each one squiggling their sparkler in the dark to make the shape of either U, S, or A. Not a single shot came even close to working out. But that was probably way more fun than if it had worked perfectly!

Ok, I guess that's a brief summary of our July so far. But before I go, two more things...First, I'm posting this on Sunday, which means tonight is episode 2 of "The Night Of" on HBO. Episode 1 was so so good! It's one of those story lines where the web gets more and more tangled each second. So get caught up if you're not watching already.



Second thing...it's another show. This one is one Netflix, so that means you can binge the entire season in one sitting if you feel like it! We LOVE this show. It is like one giant tribute to the very best films from the 1980s. It feels like ET, Goonies, and Stand By Me all in one, and with the amazing music and dark overtones of John Carpenter movies.
We rate this one: A+

Ok, now I'll sign off. Thanks so much again for reading! We hope to be back very soon, and we hope your summer has been awesome so far.

Love from the Jersey Shore! xoxo
Jenny...& Aaron

Lieutenant Dan's first week and our first InstaSale

It is just a week that this little peanut has been in our life. But he had been in our hearts for a while before his arrival. With every pic and update we received regarding this guy we considered him a family member, prior to ever getting to kiss his little head. And now that he is here it's hard to believe that the funny little pup from those pics is actually sitting in my lap. Aaron and I just constantly look down at him, shaking our heads and saying "He is home". He already gets our routine. He has his spots…he's got his decisions about how he's going to navigate the day. We watch as he hops off the couch and leaves the room, then hear him get a drink in the kitchen, and then he trots back in and hops back up on the couch to curl up in his spot again.

 He and Carlos have been getting along great! They have beds next to each other on the floor and are always trading who's bed is who's. Anytime we are in the kitchen they are like book ends, sitting or standing, and keeping an eye on the food prep.

And the same way that Carlos and little Jack used to sit on the entry rug, so do Carlos and Dan. And Lieutenant Dan also sits with his one paw up, just like Jack used to. Above is what the two guys look like when they jump up off the rug because they hear something particularly interesting going on with the dinner preparations.We keep saying to them…"You guys are brothers!"

It has been raining all day, with lots of thunder. We were wondering if the thunder would bother the little guy. When I asked him if he was the type of pup that would need a thunder shirt…he looked at me with squinty eyes, fully alert ears, and said that the pink tuffet would do the job just fine. I can't even take it! 

Here he is asleep on my lap. I love that little smile.

This pic cracks me up! This is from earlier in the week. It's amazing how every day he gets more and more comfortable. We're just so incredibly thankful for him…it just feels so meant to be. We're thankful that our friend Bernie Berlin knew that Lt. Dan was meant for us. Again, if you do not follow A Place To Bark on Facebook… You Should! Bernie tries to keep us all up to speed with the daily goings on, and she shares so many stories that start out sad but are guaranteed to have a happy ending. Seeing dogs go from death row to adoption is amazing. I love knowing that each little pup will possibly be the heart and soul of the family they go home with. 

Bernie is tireless, dedicated, and incredible! 

In other news…we are so so excited about our new InstaShop! And by Insta shop I mean Instagram! I just adore the Instagram community, where I have met some awesome, talented, and kind friends in the past year or so that I have been on there. Aaron and I will be hosting sales of all sorts of fun things from our personal collection that we have amassed over the years. Lots of vintage, some kitchenware like the above Melamine, old and new, kitchsy and cute collectibles, craft supplies, ephemera, one of a kind art pieces, etc. We are shooting for this Thursday evening for our first sale! So if you'd like to follow along and possibly do some shopping or know someone who would…make sure to follow @shoplikeitsaholiday on Instagram.

It is going to be hard to part with some of these things that we've been collecting together for over 18 years, but we know they will go to great homes! These vintage beaded baskets are just so fun! The price of these got sorta out of control as soon as an article about them came out in Martha Stewart's Mag a few years back. On ebay I remember seeing prices shoot up in a matter of 2 weeks. 

Another of our favorite things are vintage greeting cards, mostly from the 40s and 50s. We've been collecting them for over 18 yrs! We have multiples of some, so we'll be offering cute groupings in the InstaSale! Great for Art Journaling, scrapbooking, card making, or scanning and printing for all sorts of crafts! 

I am a sucker for vintage birthday candles in original boxes! I have multiples of a few so they may end up in the sale as well! 

And I started digging through our vintage cupcake and cake decorations. I've got some goodies for sure.

I think we will be putting together little inspiration boxes or bags…a mix of things. Ephemera, ribbons, and cute bits and pieces to be used in all kinds of projects. 

I'm hoping for a bit of sunshine tomorrow so that I can finish photographing items for the sale. I'm really excited and hope that we can send some happy packages off to new homes.

Thanks so much for popping in! And for all the sweet words on our newest family member! 

Love from the NJ Shore!

xo Jenny…and Aaron says hi!

Meet the newest member of the family...Lieutentant Dan!

 

 

Ladies and Gentleman...introducing Lieutenant Dan! I'm really going to try to keep this introduction brief since I know that Lieutenant Dan will probably pop up on your screens way more than you can tolerate in the future. I know we will be OVERSHARING on all social media platforms when it comes to this little guy.

He came to us the way all very special things should come to you...sprinkled with a bit of fate, chance, and magic.

As chronic dog lovers, me and Aaron always keep tabs on and donate to A Place To Bark, which is an animal rescue founded by our friend Bernie Berlin. We know Bernie through the art community. She's a great artist, instructor, and published author, but lately A Place To Bark has taken up nearly every minute of her time. She's located outside of Nashville TN, and her rescue is responsible for saving thousands of lives in that area...yes, thousands. On a weekly basis she will go to four different animal control shelters and take as many dogs as she can that are mere hours away from being euthanized. These are regular ol' lovable pups who were unwanted, abused, abandoned, etc... And she tries to take the ones who may be the hardest to adopt. Big dogs, black dogs, bully breeds, and pups with issues that are easily solved with a little bit of tlc. She takes them all to A Place To Bark, and there they get vet care, they get cleaned up, trained, socialized, and in the end they are 100% ADOPTABLE. Seriously, check out any number of videos on A Place To Bark's Facebook page and you'll see dozens of super well behaved pups, sharing food, playing, tails wagging like crazy. No aggression, no fear, just lovey dovey dogs. And many of these dogs were once cowering in a corner somewhere. 

 

Ok, just after the loss of our Little Jack, me and Aaron were probably looking at the A Place To Bark facebook page a little more often than usual. We weren't looking for a new dog. We were just finding comfort in looking at these dogs who were given a second chance at life. So, we then came across the above pic with the insanely smiling tiny Chihuahua. It stopped us in our tracks because we weren't used to seeing Chihuahuas at A Place To Bark. They rarely come through, but lately Bernie has been taking in a lot more of them (maybe inspired by this duo of Chi fanatics?!) Ok, so the next day, I got a message from Bernie. She had heard about our little Jack and said that she had someone there at A Place To Bark that we should meet. I was sorta overcome with emotion because I wasn't ready yet to consider getting a new pup. I told her as much, and when she wrote back she indicated exactly which pup she'd like us to meet. It was that crazy smiling one we had seen the day before!

 

 

She said his name was Lieutenant Dan and that he smiled like that whenever you fooled around with him. Bernie has a way of talking to Dan that makes him smile like that instantly! Right away we loved the name Lt. Dan. We are not even big Forrest Gump fans...we just thought the name was perfect for the little guy. We couldn't figure out exactly why he had the name though. Unlike the real Lt. Dan, this pup has all of his legs. But then I did come across this shot of Gary Sinise as Lieutenant Dan, and the smiles definitely look similar! ha!

Ok, so at this point, the smiling pic was the only one we saw, and we were totally in love. Oh sure, he looks crazy in the pic...but we love crazy looking things.



And then...Bernie followed up with this pic. Total opposite personality. He looks so calm and docile in his pink cowboy hat! Me and Aar swooned. I then told Bernie that we would want him but we had no idea how and when we'd get to Tennessee. Bernie said not to worry, she loves the little guy, and she'll hold onto him until we figure it out somehow.

Two months go by and we are frequently messaging with Bernie. She sent us a few videos of Dan, which we watched over and over. And then we get word from Bernie that she has a meeting in New Jersey...of all places! She says she's taking Dan on the plane so that he can come meet us! And then, at the last minute we find out that Bernie's meeting is in Red Bank, which is like 15 minutes away, we used to live there and we had a retail shop there. Crazy! 



Like I said, everything felt fateful and magic. It was almost four years ago to the day that we first met our little Jack. We picked him up on 4th of July weekend. And now here we were, picking up Lt. Dan.

 Here's the thing...you can't ever replace your beloved pup that passed. But you can fill the hole in your heart...or to say it better...you can take that surplus of love that you had for your departed pup, and give it to another pup who really really needs it. And who needs love more than a rescue dog?

Here's the brief background on Lt. Dan. He was a stray, found wandering in some parking lot, nearly starved, bad ear infections that made all of the skin and hair shed from those adorable ears. But then he was taken to A Place To Bark, got nourished, had his ear infections treated, and he was shown love. Bernie regularly rubbed coconut oil on his ears to heal them and promote hair regrowth. Dan now has a nice gingery peach fuzz and zero health issues. Every night at A Place To Bark he got to snuggle with his girlfriend Mouse, who you can see in the above smile :) pic. She still needs a home, but needs special circumstances...she has lingering trust issues with humans. Make sure to check out A Place To Bark to see all the pups needing a good home. 



 

So, we went to Red Bank and finally met Lt. Dan! He was every bit as sweet as we had expected...even more so actually. Bernie got him to smile for us right away! Aaron held him for at least a couple hours while we hung out with Bernie and her man...who is an awesome guy. Non stop joking with Jeff.

Seriously, within no time at all Lt. Dan was bonded with Aaron. We put Dan down to pee on a tree and right away he ran back to Aaron to be held again. Our time hanging out with Bernie was definitely too brief...but we will make sure to get together lots more so that she can keep in touch with Dan. 

 

When we got him home Carlos went nuts. Even though we had Carlos for a long time before we got Jack and it was just the three of us, he became very used to having a brother, and had missed Jack terribly when he passed. So with a new little guy showing up here Carlos was pretty much overcome with excitement. He just kept circling the little guy and whining and panting, and leading him around outside. They were instantly sharing treats, and laying in the same doggy bed together.

Carlos sleeps down at the foot of our bed, and when we had Jack we figured out right away that he and Carlos couldn't both sleep with us in the bed. There was a weird territorial thing and they'd growl at each other. So Jack slept in a doggy bed on the floor right next to Aar's side of the bed. It worked no problem. They both seemed comforted by the separation. So last night we were going to do the same with Lt. Dan. We set him up with some blankets in a little doggy bed beside the bed, and he was nestled in there contently. But as soon as we switched off the light, he shot like a rocket into our bed! And it's a fairly high jump to make for the little guy! He wormed right under the blankets and curled up next to Aaron. Carlos came over for a brief sniff, but then went to sleep in his own spot. No problems all night. We hope it stays that way. The behavior that pups have in the initial days together does not always remain the same.

 In the morning, we woke up, peeled back the blankets and revealed this adorable face. Enough to melt our hearts. He went out for his morning pee easy peasey...got a long drink when he came in, and he and Carlos settled down in their respective beds as we sat in the livingroom like we do every morning...Aaron with his coffee, me with my water with lemon, (coffee might give me a heart attack...fo' real) A little later he stood around with Carlos in the kitchen to watch Aaron make us a smoothie. He seriously is acting right at home.

 

By midday Aaron needed to shut his eyes for a while. Neither of us slept because we were checking on the little guy all night long. The two pups seemed to need a nap too as you can see. Yeah, and by the way...Aaron can nap anywhere, anyhow...he'd lay on concrete and not have problem catching some winks. 

 





 

We are so thankful for Lieutenant Dan. We're thankful to Bernie Berlin for being the patron saint of recued animals, we're thankful that she thought of us in our time of grief, we're thankful for her having business to take care of in Jersey, and we're thankful to our little Jack for smiling down over the whole process. A little note on that...my brother Walt picked us up from Red Bank after we got Lt. Dan...on the drive home Walt says "I have to make a stop...I need to pick up something for Bruno. (his dog)" So he pulls into the vet parking lot but they're closed. We just pause in front briefly, but the brief pause is enough. This is the same vet where we said goodbye to our little Jack. And now, nearly two months to the day we're here in the same exact spot holding Lt. Dan in our arms for the first time. Lives may pass, but the love never does. We get to give it all to another life who needs it. 

 

We urge anyone who is able, to rescue a pup...or to rescue many many pups by donating to A Place To Bark. Bernie works tirelessly with two employees and a couple volunteers. Their resources are meager, but their love is huge and should be celebrated.

Adopt don't shop.

Love you guys,

xoxo, Jenny, Aaron, Carlos, & Lieutenant Dan